Pandemonium
Pandemonium is a great mass of matter pierced by uncountable tunnels carved by the howling winds of the plane. It is windy, noisy, and dark since there are no natural sources of light. The wind will quickly extinguish any normal fires, and lights that last longer draw attention of wights who have been driven insane by the constant howling wind. Every word, scream, or shout uttered is caught by the winds and flung to every corner of all of the layers of the plane. Conversation can be accomplished by shouting and even then the words are spirited away by the wind before traveling farther then 10 feet. The stale wind of Pandemonium is cold, and it steals heat from any unprotected travelers. The endless gale buffets each inhabitant, blowing sand and dirt into eyes and carrying away loose items. In some places, the wind howls so fiercely that it lifts creatures off their feet and carries them for miles before dashing their forms against some dark cliff face or another. People have been known to be battered to pieces, their bones eventually ground to dust and added to the excess of sand being blown about. In a few relatively sheltered places, the wind dies down to just a breeze carrying the haunting echoes from distant parts of the plane, though these sounds are so distorted that they sound like cries of torment- which they very well may be! Inhabitants There are few creatures that are native to this plane; those individuals who do live there usually have no choice in the matter. People of all stripes are sometimes banished to Pandemonium, including demons fleeing the wrath of the Abyssal lords, slaadi grown too grim and terrible for Limbo, and mortals banished by evil spellcasters or their own psychoses. There are a few native species, however, including the bestial howlers, the beetlelike murska, and the winged windblades created by Erythnul. Pandemonium also houses the headquarters for the Bleak Cabal faction. Fauna Fauna native to Pandemonium include the howling dragon, howlers, and murska. Structure As an outer plane, Pandemonium is spatially infinite, further consisting of four infinite layers (or sub-planes). Pandemonium’s first layer shares borders with the neighboring planes of Limbo, the Abyss, and the Outlands; travel is possible between Pandemonium and these planes at certain locations. The Outlands town of Bedlam actually contains a half-dozen gates to Pandemonium, and it's likely they lead to at least that many different places. Portals in Pandemonium are flat squares on the sides of caverns. Yellow ones usually lead to Limbo, red to the Abyss, and black to the Outlands, with a 1 in 5 chance of error. The River Styx has its headwaters in Pandemonium, flowing from the blood, venom, suffering, and melting ice of the realm of Winter's Hall in trickles and streams until at last it becomes the dark artery of the Lower Planes. Layers Each of the four layers of Pandemonium is successively deeper within the caverns. The gnoll deity Gorellik wanders throughout Pandemonium. *Norebo's realm of The Big Gamble is in Pandemonium. Pandesmos Pandesmos is the largest and (relatively) most hospitable of the layers. The headwaters for the Styx are found here. It is a universe of great caves (thousands of miles across, so that their walls appear to be barren plains), turbulent, decaying cities and the citadels of mad warlords. The city of Madhouse is operated as a public service by the Bleak Cabal. There's plenty of traders, but almost no craftspersons and no natural resources whatever. The River Styx plummets into an abyss here. Those who drink from the river lose all sense of purpose in life. Winter's Hall is an arctic mead-hall hideout maintained by the banished Norse character Loki, guarded by frost giants and white winter wolves. Olive-drab pools to the astral appear at random in the riverbank slime, and can be moved freely. Portals to the Outlands, Limbo or the Abyss are often flat squares drawn on the walls of the caverns. This is a common location for cults of darkness, wind, madness, and hate. Pandesmos is the location of a number of godly realms, including Loki and Auril's realm of Winter's Delight, Talos' realm of Towers of Ruin, and Ho Masubi's realm of Uchi-bi. Cocytus Cocytus is also known as the "layer of lamentation", for this is where the winds are the strongest. It is a universe of extreme noise, where the sounds of madness and lamentation fill the air. This causes permanent deafness plus insanity unless protective measures (earplugs, "silence", mind blank) are taken. Its tunnels are artificial, but no one knows who or what carved them. This is a common location for the headquarters of cults devoted to madness and weird mental states. "Howler's Crag" is a mountain. An inn lies at its base. Its peak dances with faerie fire, and at the top, anyone can shout a message to anyone else in the multiverse, and it will be heard by that one recipient. Sometimes the message goes to the wrong person. "The Harmonica" is a huge, windswept spherical hollow, miles across, with towers rising from its wall toward its center. No one knows which one actually reaches the center, but rumor has it that any party climbing this tower will receive a "wish" (or perhaps something nasty, instead.) Bugbear heaven is here. Skulls around the bugbear king's throne whisper of their old lives as the wind blows through them. Realms Cocytus is the location of a number of godly realms, including the god Erythnul's realm of the Fields of Malice, the bugbear deity Hruggek's realm of Hruggekolohk, Cyric's realm of the Shattered Castle. Phlegethon It is a universe of darkness, where all the walls are black and slimy, and all light sources are greatly dimmed. Small black fires burn here, and they produce little heat. In some areas, the gravity is all in one direction, and here dripping water produces stalactites and stalagmites. This is a common location for the headquarters of weird sects devoted to darkness. The town of Windglum is unfriendly and unplanned, filled with exiles. The Court of the Bad Fairies is here, dominated by an evil artifact. Visitors will probably be charmed into perpetual slavery or used in some foul magical experiment. There is a monster who, in exchange for all your food, will give you a one-way trip to your selected location in Agathion via her intestinal tract. Realms Phelgethon is the location of a number of godly realms, including the Queen of Air and Darkness's realm of the Unseelie Court, Zeboim's realm of The Maelstrom, and the derro deity Diirinka's realm of Hidden Betrayal. Agathion Agathion is the deepest area of Pandemonium and is generally sealed off from the rest of the plane. Where Pandesmos has wide-open caverns, Agathion has narrow caves that eventually dwindle to pocket spaces within the infinite rock. It is said that deities use these sealed off areas, which are nearly impossible to get to, to store indestructible artifacts or deity-level monsters that could not be killed. Entry to these pocket areas is notoriously hard; each space only has one portal in and out, while some areas are so ancient that their portal could have been destroyed eons past. Spell alterations in Pandemonium Alteration spells always produce a result that is a little bit nasty. "Find familiar", "Limited wish", and "Wish" don't work. Divinations require a secret Wisdom check to avoid wrong information; perhaps a spell key can be discovered to prevent this. Necromancy that produces life ("Clone", "Reincarnation") requires an intelligence check. Roll twice for wild magic, and take the more extreme result. All fire-based spells fail, and no spell keys are available to produce fire effects. Clouds of any kind dissipate immediately. Referees must judge the effects of sound-based magic. Wizards using material components must check vs. dexterity or the spell fails. It seems unlikely that any magic will control the winds. Perhaps any magic that affects the mind (even "Remove Fear") would require a check, with failure causing another step toward insanity. Wizardly spell keys are musical instruments or noisemakers, made from the rock of the plane. * The suggested color for pools from the astral is magenta. Ethereal curtains might be crimson. * The dead are immune to electricity and sonic damage. * The plane is "mildly chaos-aligned". Lawful creatures have -2 on charisma checks. -1 on all charimsa checks for all good creatures, -1 on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for all non-lawful, non-chaotic creatures, -2 on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for all lawful creatures, Good-based spells (non-lawful) require a Spellcraft check (DC 15) for success, Evil-based spells (non-lawful) work as if caster were 2 levels higher, Law-based spells simply fail, Chaos-based spells work as if caster were 4 levels higher. Pandemonium